I'm about to state the obvious - Crosby is having a great season! With five points tonight, Crosby is separating himself from Stamkos (and others) as the best player in the game. Crosby has as many or more assists than all but two players have total points in the NHL!

Great to have Sidney Crosby healthy, and playing at his top form.

It was only a season ago where some pundits were suggesting that Claude Giroux was a better player than Crosby, perhaps the best player in the world. Sure, Giroux was a better player than Crosby for a short period of time (as was Ovechkin, Stamkos or Perry), but when Crosby is healthy, there is no comparison.

When we look at Crosby's hockey career in ten years time (he's still only 25 years old after all), I contend Crosby will stand above all other players in accomplishments and prominence for players who have played in the first two decades of this century!

Guest2104 ( )

Posted - 03/10/2013 : 22:16:47

Gretzky recently stated something like Croaby is the best all around player in the world. Crosby haters are now going to have a hard time debating that.

It is worth noting that the 5 points guest 4377 mentioned were all assists. That fact says something about a center ice man.

Further to that 4 of the 5 assists were second assists. But, it's still five asists and everyone in the league plays under the same rules so this is a major accomplishment. And centers are centers for a reason, they are fast and capable and have to play the full sheet of ic, getting 5 assists is not easy even for a center.

And guest 4377, you are a wise soothsayer. What a prediction that Crosby will stand above the other players at the end of the decade. Wow, how did you come up with that? ;-)

Guest4178 ( )

Posted - 03/11/2013 : 12:10:06

Agreed – you won't find too many people who disagree about Crosby's current status as the best player in the game, and you probably won't find too many people who would pick another player to be the best in the league over the next ten years, but things can change, and people's opinions can change.

If you go back 3-4 seasons ago, there were a lot of hockey fans (and on this forum) who put Ovechkin ahead of Crosby. (Who they believed was more valuable, and who they would rather have on their team.)

As a reminder, Ovechkin just came off back-to-back Hart trophies in the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons. Crosby won the Hart in his second season (2006-2007), and has not won the award since. And while he missed a large part of the last two seasons, a healthy Crosby was beat out by Henrik Sedin for the Hart in the 2009-2010 season.

Skipping ahead to last season, there were actually some people who suggested Claude Giroux was more valuable than a healthy Sidney Crosby, perhaps influenced by Giroux's play in the playoffs, when the Penguins were eliminated by the Giroux-led Flyers.

But whether you have someone like Ovechkin who was the best in the game for two seasons, or Henrik Sedin who was the league's MVP in 2009-2010, or someone like Giroux who flourished last season, there's no player who can compare to what Crosby has achieved the past seven seasons.

I was just checking out Crosby's points-per-game numbers, and since coming back from his last concussion, he has stepped it up a notch. (The numbers with asterisks are seasons where he did not, or has not, played a full season):

Wow, you actually had 3 guys afraid of his concussion history eh? He went 1st in 3 of my pools and 2nd in another! I picked no higher than 3rd in any of them.

Guest4461 ( )

Posted - 03/14/2013 : 10:16:10

Went 1st in my pool, and every other person in our pool (9 guys) said they would have picked him if they drew the first overall pick. Everyone knows about his concussion problems, but with the way he finished last season, it's hard to believe three people would pass on him in the first three picks of a hockey pool!

Guest4377 ( )

Posted - 03/14/2013 : 18:51:47

To date, Crosby has been on the ice for approximately half of Pittsburgh's goals. At present, he has 46 points, and the Penguins have 101 goals for.

One can assume that Crosby has been on the ice for a number of Penguins goals where he didn't register a point. (Not unlike any other player.)

Is this a bad thing where one player is so instrumental to a team's offense?

I don't think so, especially if a team has a great second line, like one centered by Malkin.

When the Oilers won 4 cups in 5 years, Wayne Gretzky was tallying around 200 points per season. When the Oilers scored 446 goals in the 1983-84 season (an NHL record), Gretzky had 205 points. (Gretzky went on to get 208 and 215 points the next two seasons.)

The Oilers also had a very good second line centerman by the name of Mark Messier.

It's hard for teams to isolate and check a prodigious talent like Crosby or Gretzky, when you have the likes of Malkin or Gretzky ready to jump out of the chute!

Guest4315 ( )

Posted - 03/14/2013 : 20:38:30

Yeah I got 4th pick and figured I had the hardest pick. So i'm standing their trying to figure it out who i'm going to pick and 1st says Stamkos, 2nd says Malkin and then 3rd takes Giroux. I was shocked! Made my 4th pick a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.